In meetings with law enforcement to prepare for January 6, Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was warned of the potential threat of right-wing militia groups crashing the planned rally in Washington, according to a former White House aide.
“I recall hearing the word ‘Oath Keeper’ and hearing the word ‘Proud Boys’ closer to the planning of the Jan 6 rally, when Mr Giuliani would be around,” Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked for White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified before the January 6 committee on Tuesday in pre-taped remarks.
Militia groups and white supremacists would later be among those who ransacked the Capitol building on January 6.
Multiple Oath Keeper members have been charged with or pleaded guilty to January 6-related crimes.
The mention of these right-wing groups was not the only foreboding moment ahead of the riots, Ms Hutchinson testified.
According to the former White House aide, Mr Meadows came away concerned from an early January 2021 meeting with Mr Giuliani about what might happen on January 6.
"There’s a lot going on, Cass, but I don’t know, things might get real, real bad on January 6,” she testified.
Following the 2 January conversation between Mr Meadows and Mr Giuliani, the Trump lawyer allegedly told the White House aide that Mr Trump was “going to the Capitol” on January 6, and that it would be a “powerful” gesture as the presidential election results were formally counted.
“That evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on Jan. 6,” she said. “And I had a deeper concern for what was happening with the planning aspects of it.”
The Independent has contacted Mr Giuliani and Mr Meadows for comment.
Ms Hutchinson’s testimony was the bedrock of a surprise sixth day of testimony in Congress’s January 6 hearings.
She also detailed how Donald Trump allegedly lunged at a Secret Service agent in fury when officials said it would be too dangerous to make an unplanned visit to the Capitol on January 6 following his speech before throngs of supporters.
She added that she once helped clean ketchup off the wall, after Donald Trump allegedly threw his food in anger when Attorney General William Barr gave an interview to the Associated Press describing how there wasn’t any election fraud in the 2020 presidential contest.
